Methods and systems for organizing products for purchase based on tangential information

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for providing an information-conveying layout based on tangential categories of products for sale in a retail location are applicable to any product for which there are multiple complex criteria for determining an appropriate selection. By providing customers with an intuitive and systematic approach to selecting a desired product, such as wine, the present disclosure provides customers the rare satisfaction of quickly making a precise and intelligent decision based on informed choice, rather than choosing only based on a direct category or relying on the suggestions of a salesperson.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 as a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/150,600 entitled “Methods andSystems for Organizing Products for Purchase Based on TangentialInformation” filed in the name of Tom Geniesse on Apr. 29, 2008, nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,031,865, which, in turn, claims priority under 35 U.S.C.§119 to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/914,743 entitled“Methods and Systems for Processing Information Related to Beverages”filed in the name of Tom Geniesse on Apr. 29, 2007, the entirety of bothprior application being incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to methods and systems forprocessing information and more particularly to methods and systems forprocessing information relating to retail products.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Consumers are faced with multitudes of decisions in making purchases,many of which must be made without appropriate, readily availableinformation.

Wine, for example, is a simple pleasure to drink. Buying wine is adifferent matter. Wine is a big, complicated, confusing subject for mostpeople. There are thousands of grape varieties, tens of thousands ofproducers and hundreds of thousands of brand varieties to choose from.Furthermore, the same grape tastes different depending on where it wasgrown, how it was grown, how it was made into wine, which vintage ithails from, and how old it is today.

This complexity provides a lifelong learning adventure for those whochose to dedicate themselves to the subject. However, most people feeluninformed, and for them making an intelligent buying decision for wineis nearly impossible on their own.

Traditionally, wine stores have organized wines by one direct category,such as country of origin (e.g. France, Italy, Spain). A few haveorganized their offerings by other, directly-related categories (e.g.Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot varieties of wine). However,unless the consumer could find a knowledgeable salesperson, he or shewould have to guess about the suitability of a given wine based on suchdirect information.

BEST CELLARS, founded in 1996, took an important step forward to a moreconsumer-centric approach by organizing the store according to flavorprofile using eight key words: Fizzy, Fresh, Soft, Luscious, Juicy,Smooth, Big, Sweet to describe the taste of the wine. At BEST CELLARS, aconsumer can choose a wine based on a direct classification of the wineitself, such as how it tastes, which provides a somewhat moreuser-friendly and intuitive arrangement than the traditional model.While this additional direct categorization is helpful, it proveslimited in scope when placed into practice.

The present applicant has recognized the need for and developedinnovative methods and systems to lead consumers through a uniquedecision-making process allowing them to make informed and personallyappropriate buying decisions.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The applicant has addressed the challenge of how can one organize alarge number of complex products and present them to an uninformedconsumer in a way that makes his or her decision-making not onlypossible, but efficient, informed and enjoyable.

The present disclosure provides a comprehensive and systematic approachto the retail sale of, for example, wine utilizing a physical,electronic and conceptual construct that leads a consumer through ahierarchical decision-making process based on tangentially-related(rather than only directly-related) categories, which correspond to thevarieties of a product that are suitable to the consumer's preferences.This results in a fact-based, personalized, intelligent purchasingdecision by the consumer without need for further guidance by salespersonnel or the like.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

These and other objects, features and advantages of the disclosure willbe apparent from a consideration of the following Detailed Descriptionbelow considered in conjunction with the accompanying Figures, of which:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of a retail store configured inaccordance with an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a mechanical drawing of a display shelf, or “island” in theretail store of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a display of information available to a consumer inassociation with a beverage product;

FIG. 4 is another display of information available to a consumer inassociation with a beverage product;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a process of organizing and displayingconsumer products in association with one another and with informationuseful to consumers;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the association of physical andelectronic components according to the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the functional components of theprocessor of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a selection process in accordancewith the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

In accordance with the present disclosure, there are provided hereinmethods and systems for organizing consumer products in a physicalstructure and providing information in different formats relative to theproducts, the organizational structure and information useful to aconsumer in making a purchasing decision.

As a good example of a complex product category, wine has been sold invirtually the same way for hundreds of years. BERRY BROTHERS AND RUDD inLondon, England was founded in 1698 and hasn't changed the way it sellssince, except to now offer wine online. The present disclosure providesan integrated, unique and proprietary approach providing valuableutility to the consumer. By systematically organizing the wine buyingexperience according to common, known consumer needs, and engineeringorganizational principals designed to lead buyers to appropriate,targeted decision sets, consumers can easily navigate the complex worldof wine and make highly effective and personal decisions. Thisdisclosure is new, valuable, potent and much more effective than anymodel heretofore presented.

The system addresses a number of critical elements: selection,organization, information, technology, and architecture.

The “paradox” of choice is that consumers can become paralyzed by toomuch choice. In one embodiment of the disclosure, a retail wine store islimited to displaying an inventory of a number of wines, such as 365,which is enough choice to provide an avid consumer with a differentbottle of wine every night for an entire year. It will be understoodthat the disclosure is not limited to 365 products, but rather is guidedby the concept of providing a significant but not overwhelming number ofchoices. Within this tightly edited selection are wines from every majorwine growing region, every major grape variety and style, and pricepoints meaningful to the consumer.

The present disclosure includes methods and systems that provideconsumers two ways to make decisions: an old-fashioned display incombination with a new and improved system. Along one wall, all 365wines are organized in a traditional wine store fashion, by region,which is familiar to long-time consumers but less valuable for makinginformed decisions.

The new system overcomes the complexity of wine and guides consumers togood decisions. In brief, consumers do not know wine, but they areintelligent about their lives. One may not know anything about Italianwines, but one would know that one is planning to cook salmon for dinnertonight. This tangential information is suitable for making an informedwine purchasing decision. As another example, one might not know exactlywhat wine to buy one's boss as a gift, but one would know how much he orshe wants to spend on the boss and whether or not the boss cares aboutwine, etc.

Therefore, in the described embodiment, the 365 wines are organizedaccording to a predictable set of top-level tangential categories basedupon tangential criteria for which the vast majority of consumers usewine. These categories may then be split into related sub-categories.For each sub-category, a manageable set of choices is then presentedalong with detailed information on each product in the sub-category.

For example, a consumer may be ordering take-out food for dinner.Therefore one of the selected tangential categories of wine may be“Take-Out.” Sub-categories for “Take Out” may include those wines thatgo well with “Chinese,” “Japanese,” “Thai” or “Indian” cuisines. Oneembodiment of the disclosure includes a retail store, described infurther detail herein, including a physical structure called an islandto facilitate this process. Each island may be dedicated to a singlecategory, while each side of an island may be dedicated to one of theassociated subcategories. Slots in each side may, in turn, be dedicatedto one of the associated products and include the product as well asadditional direct information regarding the product. Other forms ofproduct displays, including all known traditional types of displays mayreadily be used in place of or in conjunction with the islands describedherein.

According to the foregoing, an area of interest, “Take Out” provides theconsumer with a sub-set of, say, twenty wines from the overall offeringof 365. Drilling down further, each sub-category consists of, forexample, five wines.

The following exemplary lists illustrate a general organizationalprinciple of the disclosure involving exemplary tangentially-relatedcategories (in caps) and corresponding exemplary sub-categories (afterdashes) to the product being sold (in this case, wine):

-   -   MEAT:        -   Beef-Lamb-Pork-Game    -   POULTRY:        -   Chicken-Duck-Game    -   SEAFOOD:        -   Light Fish-Dark Fish-Fatty Fish-Shellfish    -   TREATS:        -   Dessert-Mild Cheese-Stinky Cheese-Chocolate    -   GIFTS:        -   For Someone You Barely Know (<$10)-An Old Friend            ($10-$20)-Third Date ($20-$30)-The Boss ($30 and Up)    -   MARKET FRESH (based on local farmers market produce, for        example):        -   Asparagus-Spring Lamb-Wild Greens-Fiddleheads    -   EXPLORE:        -   Odd Grapes-Globe Trot-Guest Importer-Featured Region    -   HEADLINES (Current news on wine from rotating selection of        national publications):        -   New York Times®-Wall Street Journal®-Food & Wine®-Wine            Spectator®    -   GREEN:        -   Organic-Biodynamic-Local    -   CRITICS PICKS:        -   Staff Picks-Wine Spectator®-Wine Enthusiast®-Wine Advocate®    -   RECIPES (Ever-Changing Recipes from Major Publications):        -   Everyday Food-The Minimalist®-Food & Wine®-Gourmet Magazine®    -   TAKE OUT:        -   Chinese-Indian-Japanese-Thai-American-Barbecue-Mexican-Pizza-Cuban-French-Soul            Food-Spanish    -   VALUE:        -   Cheap-Cheaper-Cheapest-Worth Every Penny    -   EVENTS:        -   Kosher-Thanksgiving-Mother's Day-Father's Day-4th of July

Islands for wine products may likewise be provided with directly-relatedcategories, such as:

-   -   RED:        -   Pink-Light-Bodied Red-Medium-Bodied Red-Full-Bodied Red    -   WHITE:        -   Sparkling-Light-Bodied White-Medium-Bodied White-Full-Bodied            White

With reference to FIG. 8, there is shown a sorting process 800 of alarge number of choices 802 to a first smaller subgroup 804 to a secondsmaller subgroup 806 and finally to a final choice 808. This is anexample of how decisions can be made in the real world. One starts witha multitude of choices, narrows them down, and then finally says “yes”to one. What is so powerful about the processes and systems of thedisclosure is that they physically and electronically facilitate thishuman decision-making process. The three dimensional design (both in thereal store and in its digital representation) literally moves customersfrom a multitude of choices to a manageable decision set and then givesthem all of the information that a majority of people might need to makean informed, appropriate and satisfying choice for that limited set, soas to minimize the information needing to be reviewed by the consumer.And, the parsing process is based on what the consumer knows and needsrather than on an irrelevant tradition or, as is often true of thebusiness mind-set, what the company wants to sell. The disclosure isdesigned to help people select and buy products in a consumer-centricapproach that has heretofore not been practiced.

With reference to FIG. 1, there is shown a retail store environment 100including a plurality of islands 102, each island comprising a uniquedisplay arrangement as shown in FIG. 2. With reference to FIG. 1, theisland 102 is seen to include a top level theme 104 indicating“Take-Out” food and a visual icon 106 indicating the island theme; herea noodle box 106 to indicate Asian food. One side 110 of the island 102is seen to display wines appropriate for Chinese food, a second side 108displays wines appropriate for Thai food. The remaining two sides canindicate wines appropriate for other sub-categories of Asian take-outfood. Detailed wine information, in the form of printed materials 112,may be included with each displayed wine, as shown in FIG. 3. Thedescribed wall displaying all 365 choices is shown at 114. In FIG. 2,the top and side views of the island 100 are shown in a mechanicaldrawing. The display allows the thematic grouping of a relatively smallnumber of 20 wines segregated from the larger inventory offering of 365by an organizing principal based on the practical use of wine. Byfocusing, for example, on the tangential category “Take Out”, theconsumer has moved effortlessly from the larger selection to a moremanageable subset of twenty wines to review.

Within the “Take Out” subset of wines displayed on one island 102, theconsumer is then faced with a choice of even smaller groupings, forexample wines that go with “Chinese,” “Indian,” “Japanese,” and “Thai”take-out food. Each of these sub-categories is associated with fiveselected wines, a manageable and appropriate set of choices given thespecificity of the consumer's need.

The interested consumer has just effortlessly moved from 365 choices, totwenty related to a relevant theme, to five focused on this person'sunique interest. It is at this point that the consumer finds detailedinformation on each of the five wines, intended to give the potentialbuyer a wealth of relevant information in order to make an informed andpersonal decision. It is understood that while the present applicantbelieves these numbers to be optimal, they are not limiting. Rather,appropriate quantities are based upon the intended goal of assistingconsumer sort large quantities of choices down to manageable groups.

Using POS software, the disclosure provides a template approach toproviding wine information for customers that includes a basicdescription such as the price, place of origin, grape, year, etc. Italso includes higher level information such as food and wine-pairingguidance, a detailed professional tasting note, ratings information fromthe entire industry, a retailer's own index, and general information theconsumer might find interesting. This information is found everywhere inthe store a wine is found. See, for example, FIG. 3 showing a graphicalillustration of exemplary information available to customers proximatethe wine selections.

In addition, when a consumer makes a purchase decision, the softwaresystem is integrated in the buying experience such that a copy of thisinformation is automatically reformatted and included in the bag withthe purchase. This allows the consumer the opportunity to learn aboutthe wine at home, to retain the information resource at the point intime when it is relevant and helpful. See, for example, FIG. 4 showing agraphical illustration of exemplary information available to customersat the point-of-sale register/checkout system.

FIG. 6 shows a system including a retail store physical display 602including the above described-islands 602A, 602B, 602N (as many asrequired) and a point of sale system 604 including a processor 604A,storage 604B containing the above described information and a series ofconnected displays 606A-606D in association with the POS system 604 andphysical, island displays of products. The POS system may comprise oneor more of conventional register/check-out systems functional tofacilitate sales, cash and credit/debit card processing, receipts,inventory management, etc. conventional with such systems. Similarly oneor more computer systems may be used in a conventional way to store,retrieve and/or display information as described herein. Any functionsdescribed above with respect to the POS may also be made available on apublicly-accessible computer network, such as via a website on theInternet, so that customers may search, shop and order products remotelyfrom the retail location. In certain embodiments, the online shoppingexperience may present search options in a manner that resembles theprocess employed by a consumer to locate a wine at the physical retaillocation.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary process 500 for organizing and displayingproducts in accordance with the present disclosure. A first quantity ofproducts is selected for display (502). Optionally, this first quantitymay be displayed in its entirety, for example in one section of thestore. Further in accordance with the disclosure, the first quantity issorted into smaller groups of a second quantity based upon a sortingfactor relevant to consumer choice (504). These groups are sorted intophysical displays (506), each group in the display again sorted intosmaller subgroups within the physical display (508). Information isdisplayed in association with the physical products (510) using printedinformation and/or electronic displays such as displays 606A-D. Furtherinformation is provided in association with selected products as theyare purchased by a consumer at a point of sale (512), for example pointof sale system 604 (FIG. 6), in printed and/or electronic format.

FIG. 7 shows a functional depiction of processor 604A of FIG. 6,including operational elements which may be implemented in hardware,firmware, software or a combination of the above. This implementationincludes a product selector 702A for selecting an initial displayquantity of products 702A. Product groupers 702B (for selecting atangential category) and product sub-groupers 702C (for selectingsub-categories corresponding to each tangential category) determine thefunctional arrangement of products into islands and groups within anisland as described above. A product information collector 702Dcollects, stores and otherwise manages product information as describedabove. A product information distributor 702E facilitates the display ofappropriate product information in an appropriate format in associationwith both the physical displays/islands and the POS. A register orcheck-out processor 702F facilitates the actual purchase of a product bya customer.

Optional additional features of a retail establishment in accordancewith the present disclosure include:

-   -   Children's play area. Keep the little people happy while the big        people enjoy themselves.    -   Dog friendly area. Tie up and treats, although pups may be        encouraged to roam free.    -   Library, bookstore and sitting area. Wine, spirit, food and        cooking periodicals and books available for sale or library with        seating to make consumers comfortable and give them resources to        learn.    -   Classes available to further education and have fun.    -   General events with poets, movie producers, sexologists, cooks,        entrepreneurs, among others, called the “Eclectic Salon” to        taste and learn about wine, hear talks on interesting topics,        and connect wine to the wider experience of life.    -   An on-premises wine bar or lounge where various wines can be        purchased and consumed.

There has thus been provided new and improved methods and systems forproviding both an information-conveying layout and textual informationregarding products in an online or real-world environment, such as aretail store. While the disclosure has been shown and described withrespect to a wine store, it is applicable to any analogous productwherein there are multiple related choices and consumers benefit fromthe informative product layout and information. By providing consumerswith the most user-friendly, intuitive and systematic approach towine-buying, the present disclosure provides to customers the raresatisfaction of having made a precise and intelligent choice based onpersonal preference rather than flying blind or outsourcing the decisionto a salesperson. By giving buyers an opportunity to incrementallyincrease their knowledge of wine, their confidence and competence in thesubject is likewise increased. This is a new experience for mostconsumers and it is such a superior experience in that it represents amassive advantage over previous methods and systems for selling productssuch as beverages, and in this example, retail wine.

While the disclosure has been shown and described with respect toparticular embodiments, it is not thus limited. Numerous modifications,changes and enhancements will be readily apparent to the reader and oneof ordinary skill in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for organizing varieties of a productsold to consumers, each variety of the product being associated with aplurality of direct categories for the product and a plurality oftangential categories for the product, the method comprising: providinga product display dedicated to a single tangential category from theplurality of tangential categories, the product display for displaying aplurality of varieties of the product that are associated with thesingle tangential category, providing an identification of the singletangential category on the product display, the identificationcomprising at least one of a graphical identification and a textualidentification, the identification displayed in proximity to a topportion of the product display so as to be readily viewed by a consumerin order to assist the consumer in making a selection of the product,associating the single tangential category with at least twosub-categories of the single tangential category, associating a lessernumber of the varieties of the product with each of the sub-categories;providing a plurality of sides of the product display, where each sideof the product display is dedicated to only one of the at least twosub-categories, displaying an identification of the sub-categories oneach of the plurality of sides so as to be readily viewed by theconsumer in order to further assist the customer in making the selectionof the product; providing a plurality of slots on each side of theproduct display, each slot being dedicated to only one variety of theproduct, the one variety corresponding to the sub-category associatedwith that side of the product display, providing a textualidentification of a direct category corresponding to the one variety ofproduct, where the textual identification of the direct category isdisposed in proximity to each slot so as to be readily viewed by theconsumer in order to assist the consumer in finalizing the selection ofthe product.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the product displaycomprises a product island within a retail establishment.
 3. The methodof claim 1, wherein the slots on at least one side of the productdisplay are disposed in parallel.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein eachslot holds a quantity of one variety of the product.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the product comprises a wine.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the at least one tangential category includes foods or eventsfor which a suitable wine is desired by the consumer, and wherein theplurality of direct categories includes a color of the wine, a brand ofthe wine, a region of the wine, a country of origin of the wine and atype of wine grape
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein each slot is sizedto securely hold at least one wine bottle in a horizontal orientationwith respect to a floor supporting the product display, and whereinmultiple wine bottles are stacked upon each other in the horizontalorientation within each slot,
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: providing a second product display in which the product isarranged only according to the plurality of direct categories.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, said product display further comprising: a pluralityof physical product islands, each physical product island dedicated toonly one of the plurality of tangential categories.
 10. A method oforganizing products, comprising: selecting a tangential category thatrelates to a product, the product having a plurality of varieties;associating a limited number of the varieties of the product to thetangential category; presenting the limited number of the varieties ofthe product to a consumer, organized by the tangential category.selecting at least two sub-categories for the tangential category;associating a lesser number of the varieties of the product to each ofthe sub-categories; and presenting the limited number of the varietiesof the product to a consumer, organized first by the tangential categoryand then by the at least two sub-categories.
 11. The method of claim 10,said presenting further comprising: presenting the product at a retaillocation by dedicating a display to the tangential category, the displayholding only those varieties of the product that correspond to thetangential category.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:dedicating one side of a display to only one of the sub-categories, eachside holding several varieties of the product that correspond to saidone of the sub-categories.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: dedicating a slot in one side of the display to only onevariety of the product, the one variety corresponding to a sub-categoryassociated with the one side of the display.
 14. The method of claim 13,further comprising: providing detailed information for the one varietyin proximity to the slot.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein theproduct comprises a beverage.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein thebeverage comprises a wine.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein thetangential category comprises food and the at least two sub-categoriesinclude particular types of food for which a suitable wine is desired bythe consumer.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the varieties includeat least one of: a brand of the wine, a region of the wine and a type ofgrape of the wine.
 19. The method of claim 10, said presenting furthercomprising: presenting a plurality of islands at a retail location, eachisland corresponding to only one of the tangential categories.
 20. Amethod for organizing products on a display located in a retailestablishment, the display having a plurality of sides and the sideshaving a plurality of slots, the method comprising: selecting atangential category that relates to a product, the product having aplurality of varieties and further having at least one direct category;selecting a sub-category of the tangential category; associating alimited number of the varieties of the product with the sub-category;dedicating the display to holding only those varieties of the productthat correspond to the tangential category; dedicating a side of thedisplay to holding only the varieties of the product associated with thesub-category; dedicating a slot on the side of the display to only oneof the varieties of the product associated with the sub-category.